Strike Syria and the world will shake

In an exclusive interview with The Sunday Times, Bashar al-Assad accuses Arab leaders of creating a pretext for western intervention in his country

He could have been mistaken for a young business executive. Indeed, it was
hard to imagine that the beaming figure in the dark suit who greeted staff
warmly as he carried his own bags into the Tishreen Palace was anything
else.

Yet this was Bashar al-Assad, the Syrian president in whose name more than
3,500 people are said to have been killed in eight months of violence. Armed
clashes have escalated to a point where last week Sergei Lavrov, the foreign
minister of Russia, an ally, likened the situation to civil war.

The contrast between the maelstrom of killing that has engulfed parts of Syria
and the mild manner of the softly spoken leader presiding over efforts to
contain it from his hilltop palace could hardly be more stark.

He shook my hand with a smile, led me into a living room for tea and, having
been briefed beforehand that